São Paulo – In his speech at the opening of the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in New York, United States, this Tuesday (19), the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called on the heads of state to fight against inequality and climate change.
Lula said his first speech at the 2003 assembly focused on inequality, and today, 20 years later, the world is increasingly unequal. “Hunger, the central theme of my speech at this World Parliament 20 years ago, today affects 735 million human beings, who go to sleep tonight without knowing if they will have anything to eat tomorrow,” he said.
The Brazilian president said those who govern the world lack the political will to overcome inequality. According to him, reducing inequality in countries requires including the poor in national budgets and making the rich pay taxes proportional to their wealth.
Lula stated the world is immersed in a whirlwind of crises, such as COVID-19, climate change, and food and energy insecurity generated by geopolitical tensions; these, in addition to racism, intolerance and xenophobia, are aggravated or have inequality as their root.
The Brazilian leader criticized the progress of the 2030 Agenda, a UN action for countries’ development goals, including eradicating poverty. “The moral and political importance of eradicating poverty and ending hunger appears to have been numbed,” he said. Lula also stated that, upon taking over as chair of the G20 in December, he will place the fight against inequalities at the core of the international agenda.
Climate change
Lula also raised the issue of inequality when addressing climate change. He said the vulnerable populations in the Global South are the most affected by loss and damage caused by climate change. “The richest 10% of the world’s population are responsible for almost half of all carbon released into the atmosphere. We, developing countries, do not want to repeat this model,” said Lula.
The leader spoke about Brazil’s position in the transition to a green economy. “We are at the forefront of energy transition, and our matrix is already one of the cleanest in the world; 87% of our electrical power comes from clean and renewable sources.” According to him, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reduced by 48% in eight months.
The president said that the promise to allocate USD 100 billion annually to developing countries to face the climate crisis remains just a promise. “Today, this amount would be insufficient for a demand that already reaches trillions of dollars,” he said.
BRICS
Lula also said BRICS is a strategic platform to promote cooperation between emerging countries. “The recent expansion of the group at the Johannesburg Summit strengthens the fight for an order which accommodates the economic, geographic and political plurality of the 21st century,” he said.
Wars
The president of Brazil also defended peace and said there would be no sustainability without it. Lula said it is disturbing that old unresolved disputes persist and new threats emerge or gain force. He spoke of the difficulty of creating a State for the Palestinian people and cited the issues faced by Haiti, Yemen, Libya, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Sudan, and Guatemala, in addition to the war in Ukraine.
Morocco and Libya
Among other topics, the president expressed condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Morocco and the storms in Libya. “Like what happened recently in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in my country. These tragedies have claimed lives and caused irreparable losses. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and their families,” he said.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
